Iteke Wijbenga
Viola
Dutch violist Iteke Wijbenga is a chamber musician and soloist, who has shared the stage with renowned musicians including pianist Severin von Eckhardstein, violinist Rainer Schmidt and bass player Rick Stotijn. She regularly plays performs at all the major concert halls in the Netherlands including the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and has been invited to many international chamber music festivals including Grachtenfestival Amsterdam, International Chamber Music Festival Schiermonnikoog, Aurora Chamber Music (Sweden) and Harmos Festival (Portugal). She appears regularly in live television and radio performances and the radio has broadcast CD-recordings of her ensembles.
Recently Iteke appeared as a soloist in Bruch’s Double Concerto with the renowned Dutch clarinettist Lars Wouters van den Oudenweijer and the Nieuwe Philharmonie Utrecht. Since that collaboration they have been giving concerts as a clarinet trio together with pianist Daniël van der Hoeven. Iteke is founder and artistic director of Kamermuziekfestival Groningen, a new chamber music festival in her home town.
As well as her chamber music career, Iteke is guest principal of the Cologne Chamber Orchestra and plays regularly with the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Increasingly Iteke is also active in historically informed practice settings, making her debut at the Utrecht Early Music Festival in 2021.
Iteke graduated ‘cum laude’ at the Conservatory of Amsterdam where she studied with Sven Arne Tepl. She enriched her education with lessons from Tabea Zimmermann, Nobuko Imai, Thomas Riebl and Anner Bylsma; and with baroque lessons from Shunske Sato and Jane Rogers.
Iteke plays on a modern viola made by Jürgen Manthey, sponsored by a private fund. Her bow is on loan from the Dutch Musical Instruments Foundation.